There's less than 48 hours left to submit an entry for this year's Fukuoka Ruby Award with its 1 Million Yen prize. But if you have a suitable project it's just a matter of completing a form.

The Fukuoka Ruby Award was set up in 2009 to promote Ruby, raise public awareness of the growing software industry in Fukuoka, and expand the use of Ruby to new regions and industries around the world. It's an initiative involving the creator of the Ruby language, Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto.

This prize seems to be beset by lack of entries. The recent reminder of the approaching deadline includes a line familiar from 2010 (when the deadline to companies in the US was extended in the hope of gaining more entries):

There aren't many applicants at this point (less than 10). Which means you have a very high chance to win the prize!

The Grand Prize winner will be awarded 1 Million Yen - equivalent to about $12,600, $10,000 or £8,000 and will be invited to attend the award ceremony in Fukuoka, Japan in March 2013 (hotel and airfare paid).

If you are a Ruby aficionado - and this is of course a competition for programs written in Ruby - the fact that it is Matz himself who will be testing and reviewing your source code is perhaps as much an incentive as the cash prizes.

To be eligible you (an individual or a company) need to have completed development a Ruby program (not necessarily exclusively in Ruby) within the past twelve months.

According to the rubric:

Eligible projects include systems, business models, or activities that utilize the features of the Ruby programming language. Projects that 1) help increase the popularity or growth of Ruby, 2) impact society in a big way, or 3) are widely used, are preferred. Entries may incorporate languages other than Ruby. Exclusive development in Ruby is NOT required. Both free and commercial projects will be considered.

Apart from the Grand Prize there are Outstanding Performance Awards (100,000 Yen) and this year's competition includes a Salesforce Japan Prize (500,000) Yen plus three tickets to Dreamforce in San Fransisco, but no mention of this is included provided on the English-language site.

The deadline for submission of the entry form, by email is 5PM, November 15, 2012 (Japan Time) and entrants have until November 30th to submit supporting materials.